Jumbo Loan Rates Falling in Bay Area, CA

May 17th, 2008

Months after many eager homeowners starting gearing up to refinance their mortgages, interest rates for Bay Area-sized mortgages are finally falling. Lower rates may at last bring the savings many owners and would-be home buyers have been looking for since February, when Congress passed an economic stimulus bill that aimed to deliver lower rates on mortgages of up to $729,750 in high-priced parts of the country. Borrowers who last week would have been quoted a 7 percent rate for a 30-year mortgage of $500,000 could find a rate of about 6 percent on that loan by Friday. That difference could save a homeowner more than $300 a month on mortgage payments. “People have been waiting for this to happen ever since they signed it,” said Susan McHan of Opes Advisors, a mortgage brokerage in Palo Alto, referring to the stimulus bill. She and other brokers are pre-qualifying more house-hunting customers, and refinancing the mortgages of clients who could save money because of the rate changes. “I’ve got approximately 50 loans sitting in a bucket here waiting for this to happen,” said Dennis Steinbach of S&L Home Loans in San Jose earlier this week. “My phone’s been ringing off the hook this morning.” Many brokers and their clients went through this same exercise back in February - prematurely as it turned out. “We’re finally going to be able to see the results that were intended from the stimulus package - enabling people to refinance,”

    • Posted in California Home Loan Rates | No Comments »